The other day, while freeing up some space on my computer, I stumbled on a folder labeled “000”. I wasn’t sure what the heck it was, so I opened it. Pow! I saw these pictures. PAST-AH! I made this back in March, yes with my old lens, just before I had the flu.

All of a sudden it all came rushing back to me in some sort of distorted flashback…

This pasta. American Idol. The flu. Postponing my Dad’s birthday dinner. Ahhh yes. No wonder why these pictures didn’t make it on here, I remember!! I was sick! Apparently with a side of temporary amnesia because it’s only been like 6 months. Who does that? Who forgets a recipe? Me apparently.

My sister Christine emailed me this recipe forever and ever ago. Telling me to “Make it! It’s delicious!”… and she was right! I remember loving the combination of the fire roasted tomatoes with the pesto and the copious amounts of… *sigh* cheese. I believe she got this recipe from someone, who got it from someone and it may have been in a magazine or something, not sure. But who ever thought this little ditty up… me and my family thank you.

It’s awesome.

This dish is simple and quick to prepare. It makes for a soul warming weekday meal and would even be great to make ahead of time and then just pop in the oven when you’re ready to eat!

To a pot of salted boiling water, add the pasta and cook just short of al dente. I usually stop mine two minutes before the recommended time when I plan to finish baking the pasta in the oven. Then grate a cup and a half of the Asiago cheese… or more to taste. Have you ever heard anyone complain about pasta being too cheesy? Not this girl.

Then just mince up the garlic and cook it up with the ground turkey over medium heat in a little olive oil.

Add in the entire can of fire-roasted tomatoes. If you can’t find the diced variety then go for the fire-roasted tomato sauce. As long as it’s tomato and fire roasted, you should be golden.

Ground turkey is a not-so-pretty grey once it’s cooked, so I quickly mix the tomato sauce into it so my eyes don’t suffer. Ahhh. I feel so much better.

Add in all the baby spinach. Reduce heat a tad and place a lid over top. Let the steam wilt and cook the leaves for a couple minutes.

Meanwhile reserve a cup of the pasta liquids, then drain the pasta and return it to the pan.

Add the cup of pesto, homemade or jarred… who cares? it’s PESTO!

Then add a cup of the Asaigo cheese.

Stir. I could so totally eat this right here and now… but it gets soooo much better, just you wait!

Now the spinach should be bright green and tender.

Add the pesto pasta {say that three times} to the tomato and turkey mixture. Give it a toss until everything is well mixed. Here is where you can add a little of the pasta sauce if you think the sauce needs to be thinned out a little. Your call.

Pour the mixture into a large lightly {olive} oiled baking dish and sprinkle with more cheese. Confession: So I have this thing, where I can’t just leave a recipe alone. I always change, add or delete something. I’m not sure why I do this… but admitting has to be the first step, right?

For this recipe; I couldn’t resist grabbing some panko and sprinkling a cup of it over top and liberally drizzling it with more olive oil. That step is not necessary, but I do like the added texture the panko gives. Bake in a 375 degree oven until the top is golden about 15-20 minutes {could be a little longer… I forgot… amnesia remember??}

This is such a hearty pasta dish! I would so serve this with a bottle of wine and some garlic knots. Maybe some candle light and a little Frank Sinatra. Oh yes yes!

As Ina Garten would say… “How good is that?” 🙂 Now make this as soon as possible… because, like me, you can’t say no to pasta?!

Do it.

Enjoy! And if you give this Italian Pasta Bake recipe a try, let me know by snapping a photo and tagging me on twitter or instagram!

My cookbook Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy is now available! CLICK HERE for details and THANK YOU in advance!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and season generously with kosher salt. Add pasta and cook to just shy of al dente. Reserve a cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile in a deep 10-inch skillet, over medium heat sauté garlic in olive oil. Add the ground turkey, use a spatula to break it up and cook until the turkey is no longer pink and is fully cooked, about 8 minutes.

Next add the tomatoes, pesto, 1/2 cup of cheese and stir.

Place the baby spinach on top of the simmering tomato and turkey mixture; reduce heat to low and cover to cook the spinach about 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the cooked and drained pasta to the tomato mixture and toss. If desired add a little of the pasta water to thin out the sauce.

Hi! I never comment even though I read your blog almost daily. I made this pasta dish last night and it was SOOOO GOOOD!! I swapped the ground turkey for turkey sausages and it was equally as tasty. I'm so excited for the leftovers today!

My son (13 years old) just made this for our dinner. We are vegetarians, so we used a soy protein crumble instead of the beef. It was soooo good and my son was so proud to have made an awesome dinner all by himself. Thank you for the great recipe : D

This was super! I did add about a cup of leftover marinara sauce that I had to cover up some of the green so my kids would be more apt to eat it. 🙂 And eat it they did! This made a TON, so I shared some with a friend and now we're all happily full of great pasta!

Just made this Monday evening and it was amazing. Great leftovers, my husband is firefighter and had leftovers at work, heated up and told me from work how great it was.Very flavorful and not heavy, used my homemade pesto from summer/Wisconsin basil crop from my freezer. This will be a truly go to recipe for family get togethers-Thanks for a great recipe.

Wow…another hit in my house!! I see this was from back in 2011, but I just tried it last night for dinner. SO good, SO easy, and VERY forgiving. I actually substituted some leftovers I had — Classico pasta sauce instead of tomato sauce (added some crushed red pepper for some kick), sliced Aidell’s chicken sausage links, and a combo of mozzarella and parmesan cheese — but it all came together wonderfully. It was really savory, and perfect for a cool fall evening! And you’re right — that pasta, pesto, and cheese mixture was fabulous all on its own…LOL… 😉 Thanks for all the yummy recipes Laurie!

Thank you for the recipe. I had to make three edits based on my available ingredients, and it still turned out awesome!
–I used Bowtie pasta instead of Cavatappi Pasta.
–I squirted Sriracha sauce in with Tomato, Galic & Basil tomato sauce, since I didn’t have fire-roasted tomatos. (I may have squited in too much Sriracha sauce, but it was still delicious. My boyfriend said it reminded him of Indian food.)
–I didn’t have any spinach available.

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Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to find and create recipes that I can make from scratch. I hope you enjoy the recipes on this blog as they are tried and true from my kitchen to yours! (more)